<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Where in Gotham is Timothy freaking Drake? by strawberryjei</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25390999">Where in Gotham is Timothy freaking Drake?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryjei/pseuds/strawberryjei'>strawberryjei</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Can be read as preslash, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I think?, Jason is a good brother, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, bruce is an ass, rated T because i dont remember if i made jason swear, sorry Bruce, the Monarch Theater, tim drake plays piano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:22:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,452</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25390999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryjei/pseuds/strawberryjei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason couldn't find Tim in any of his usual haunts. Under the same circumstances, he would've retreated to his room at the Manor, slamming the door with no regard to the look Alfred gave him. He had had a lot of experience doing that before Ethiopia and you know, dying. But Tim had clearly stormed out of the Manor and slammed the gas on his Mercedes on the way out. </p><p>Plus, Jason had checked Tim's room. No angry genius in there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tim Drake &amp; Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>186</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Where in Gotham is Timothy freaking Drake?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/elyrey/gifts">elyrey</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for the lovely <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/elyrey/pseuds/elyrey">Elyrey</a> for the 2020 Tim Drake Birthday Fic Hunt run by the super amazing <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rahndom/pseuds/Miss%20Anne%20Thropy">Rahn</a> and <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybirdblues/pseuds/babybirdblues">Bee</a> on the Capes &amp; Coffee discord server!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jason couldn't find Tim in any of his usual haunts. Under the same circumstances, he would've stormed back to his room at the Manor, slamming the door with no regard to the <em> look </em> Alfred gave him. He'd had a lot of experience doing that before dying and all that jazz. But Tim had clearly stormed out of the Manor and slammed the gas on his Mercedes on the way out. </p><p>Plus, Jason had checked Tim's room. No angry genius in there.</p><p>Tim wasn't in his office or the penthouse at WE, or the diner on Figueroa and Cypress. Selina hadn't seen him, and neither had the girls that hung around Eastlake and Main. Where else would an upset, stubborn Tim be likely to go?</p><p>Oh. Tim was a grown goddamn vigilante who had his own network of safe houses and one possibly haunted theater-turned-house. Jason fought the urge to facepalm as he straddled his bike and immediately charted course for the Monarch Theater. </p><p>He had to give kudos to Tim for picking such a strategic to call home. Bruce only swung by that part of town once a year, otherwise staying away from the place he'd lost his parents. Jason would sooner backstroke across the Harbor than admit he avoided expanding his territory in that direction to avoid the place he’d met Bruce. Throw in the fact that it was the far side of Gotham from Blud, Robin stuck with Batman, and the Birds hung 'round the Clocktower, and Timmy had all the space he needed to stay in Gotham without bumping into any Bats.</p><p>Jason arrived at the theater, and was pleasantly surprised that his passcode still worked. Jason had thought that the code Tim gave him would be a single use, and that he'd used it up after inviting himself inside one time to patch up after a nasty encounter with some Contreras family enforcers. This time though, Jason took his time looking around at what the little bird had done with the place. </p><p>The place had had a serious overhaul. The mezzanine had been extended to become a proper second story, and the orchestra pit had given way to a sunken living room type area. Most of the seating area had been leveled, and could barely be recognized as a former small theater. Scattered belongings suggested that Spoiler, Black Bat, and the occasional Titan slept over at the Theater. </p><p>There was a popcorn machine by a freaking huge tv, scattered blueprints of some sort on the kitchen island, two fish tanks by the elevators, but no Tim. </p><p>Jason made sure to double check with a temperature scan using his helmet just in case. It wouldn’t be the first time Tim dropped off the plane of existence only to emerge from under a blanket and three pillows. However, there weren't any warm spots other than various light fixtures.</p><p>Maybe he was in the gym? Bruce had always found beating punching bags into submission a soothing activity. Jason took the stairs two at a time up to the civilian-safe base of operations. The gym equipment was unoccupied, the gaming equipment had all been shut down, and the office and lounging areas were all empty. Fuck. The normal living area was spacious, but it had nothing on what Red Robin got up to in the sublevels. </p><p>Jason entered his code into the automatic fish food dispenser. The water filter light blipped blue, and he stepped into the open elevator. He cursed the puff of air that came from the retina scan, but that's what he got for going the civilian route. Sadly, Tim hadn't given him permission and the access code to drive directly into the underground garage. He was fairly sure that <em> Batman </em> didn’t have access to the underground garage. And even if he did, surely the code would’ve been voided as soon as Tim pulled out of the Manor driveway.</p><p>Jason stepped out of the elevator and began his search all over again. It wasn't long before he heard something in the distance. He turned up the gain on his helmet to detect the sound of . . . piano?</p><p>He took off his helmet when he found Timothy Pain In The Ass To Find Drake sitting on a cushioned seat, playing an upright piano. "Playing" was a loose term. The same uncertain string of notes were being played on repeat, interspersed with snippets of music that was played with more certainty. </p><p>Jason knocked on the open door twice. Tim, to his credit, reflexively jerked away from the sound instead of screaming in terror. In Tim’s defense, there have been a few times where Jason had knocked on a door and made low grade villains piss their pants. What was it about Jason’s knocking that sounded menacing? He shelved that thought for another day.</p><p> He felt the teensiest bit bad that he'd knocked so suddenly and loudly. </p><p>“Piano, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah. Mom signed me up when I was a kid. I stopped for a while when this all happened,” Tim waved up at the city above them,” and picked it back up when Dad found out I was Robin. It’s cathartic. He’d say something stupid and I’d try to drown him out. After a while you focus on the music more than the clusterfuck.”</p><p>“Sounds like something I could use for when a certain somebody says something stupid as well.” Jason gave Tim a knowing look.</p>
<hr/><p>Bruce had no right to presume that Tim would rearrange his schedule around Bruce’s last minute ‘vacation to the Bahamas’ at he drop of a cowl. Tim had been planning to spend his last week of summer break in San Francisco before driving down to Stanford, but nooooo, Bruce <em> needed </em>him to stay and run WE for the month that he’d be investigating organized crime in the tropics. </p><p>Tim had pointed out that Lucius and Tam were still doing amazing jobs running WE, that he’d had his own cases to close before taking off, that he’d been planning this getaway for the better part of two months. The Titans hadn't seen Tim for nearly four.</p><p>Bruce squared his shoulders and pulled out the Batman Voice. “Do not make me ground you from going out for a month as well.”</p><p>Tim laughed drily. “No. I was legally emancipated, reached the age of majority, and  have been the majority shareholder of the company with <em> your </em>name on it for years now. I can go out if I want to. It's pretty late to start parenting me; I’m sure Damian would appreciate your attention though.” He dragged a hand through his hair, gripping tight as if it would help relieve his Bat sized headache.</p><p>“<em> Timothy Drake-Wayne—” </em></p><p><em>“ — </em>is not continuing this conversation.”</p><p>Jason hadn’t meant to be in the Cave at that time, but he followed as Tim stormed out. He knew the aftermath of arguing with Bruce was never easy. If anything, he may as well check up on the kid since heavens knew Bruce wouldn't be the one to follow Tim out of the Cave with an apology or decent explanation.</p>
<hr/><p>“Yeah, it felt appropriate to come back here and start banging on the keys again. I’m definitely rusty after not practicing for so long though.” He repeated that string of notes, and slid off the piano bench, onto a nearby wheely chair.</p><p>“Come, sit here.” He patted the newly vacated piano bench.</p><p> Jason tentatively took a seat. He didn’t know much about pianos, other than they sounded nice when played by skilled people and that they cost a buttload of money.</p><p>“Okay, so posture, hand positions, scales and middle C.” Tim lightly smacked Jason’s back where he slouched over, and laid his fingers to the keys, one white key to every finger. “This is middle C, which is always in the middle and immediately to the left of this pair of black keys. So C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C”</p><p>Jason clumsily tried to mimic Tim’s hand movements. He wasn’t quite sure how he was transported to a universe where A comes after G, but he was glad that Tim wasn’t beating himself up over fighting with Bruce the way he had all those years ago. It was scary, he had been alone, and angry. It would just feel so <em> wrong </em> to have left Tim alone in this large and quiet house, with nothing but his piano to drown out the echoes of Batman's disapproval. Lord knew that he'd unsuccessfully tried to drown out the echoes with alcohol. </p><p>Even if he wasn’t ready to talk about it, Jason was there to make sure that Tim knew that he still had a shoulder to lean on in Gotham.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>